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Saturday, July 21, 2012

80 Shilling Yeast Experiment Brewday

Back in February, I made an American Pale Ale with White Labs Edinburgh Ale Yeast 028. I had a yeast cake, and I figured I’d try something different. And while that beer was delicious, it was not really an APA. So I figured that, in the name of science, I would run a single batch of beer across three different yeasts as a controlled experiment to compare the different versions. I picked an American yeast (Wyeast 1272 American Ale II), and Belgian yeast (Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes), and an English yeast (White Labs 028 Edinburgh, since I liked it so much last time) in order to offer some variety. So without further ado, I bring you the 80 Schilling Yeast Experiment! Oh yeah, and I’ll be running an APA over the same three yeasts when I rack this one over to the secondary.

Bottled: 7/31/2012 w/ .9 oz table sugar eachOG: 1.052FG: a @ 1.016, b @ 1.016, e @
1.018Tasting Notes: So I am finally getting around to typing up some notes
on the first of the two yeast experiments I did this summer. In the glass, the
color and carbonation for all three versions are identical: clear deep copper
with a touch of chocolate and a wispy soft eggshell head—there is minimal
carbonation even after about five months in the bottle. Wyeast 1272 American II (a):
The nose is clean and lightly nutty, with faint delicate chocolate that borders
on cocoa; there is a hint of malt and caramel, but it is the most neutral of
the three. Flavors follow quite closely; there is malt and caramel sweetness in
the front with just a touch of chocolate in the middle, while the finish is
smooth and even—it is just more of the caramel and malt of the front, with some
lingering chocolate. There might be a touch of fruitiness in the middle, but it
is very indistinct and buried. The nose is actually more interesting and subtle
than the flavor profile: the delicate nut and cocoa doesn’t make it into the
body. The body is light and gentle, and the subtle carbonation allows the beer
to roll pleasantly across the palate. This is a good beer, but it comes across
as a bit too clean overall. The beer is also a bit thin in the front; the cleanness
is nice, but makes for a bit of an indistinct beer overall. Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes
(b): There is a slight phenolic tang, along with some spicy fruitiness. Caramel
comes in behind this, but is clearly secondary to the Belgian yeast
characteristics—I find the nose a bit off-putting, honestly, and I’m a fan of both Belgian beers and 3522 in specific. The flavors are
also a bit unbalanced between the phenolic yeast and the malt and caramel
flavors: it opens with malt sweetness that leads into caramel in the middle
before giving way to the spicy phenolics of the yeast in the finish. The
subtlety found in the other two versions is lost—the hint of chocolate and even
much of the caramel is hidden behind yeast flavors in the second half of the
beer. As with the Wyeast 1272 version, the body is light with subtle carbonation.
It does not, however, finish clean—the Belgian yeast character lingers on the
palate. Still, I’ve had worse beers. At the same time, I wouldn’t recommend
this combination. White Labs 028 Edinburgh (e):
The nose opens with a rich maltiness: there is toast, caramel, and a lighter
chocolate with an almost delicate creamy breadiness behind the caramel. Flavors
build upon the aromatics; sweet caramel malt in the front, with bread and
biscuit leading into hints of chocolate in the middle, along with some
nuttiness. The finish is dry but malty, and more husky than grainy. There is a hint more body in this beer, which
not only gives it a touch more mouthfeel, but also gives it a corresponding
more rounded feel on the tongue. In conjunction with the light carbonation,
this version has a creamier, smoother body, even as it finishes cleanly. This
yeast is certainly much more malt friendly than the other two; unlike the
Wyeast 1272, which is clean and neutral, this yeast draws the malt flavors out
to delicious effect. It is hands down the best beer of the three, although I
can see a case being made for the 1272 version. Not that I’m listening. Not surprisingly, all these yeasts ended up producing
the types of characteristics that I would expect from them. Still, this
experiment was valuable to see the ways in which the three yeasts interacted
with one batch of beer. White Labs 028 Edinburgh produced the best beer for the
style—it is a malt-friendly and malt forward yeast. Wyeast 1272 American II was
too clean and neutral, which is good for certain types of American beers, but
it came across as a bit too bland in a Scottish 80 Shilling. It was clean, yes,
but nothing really stood out. As well, it was the thinnest of the three in
terms of mouthfeel—the one place Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes was better than
1272 was in mouthfeel, even though both finished with the same final gravity.
And Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes? While I’m certain there is someone out there
for this particular beer, it is not me. Although I do want to point out that
when I took a couple of six-packs of this and 122. American Pale Ale YeastExperiment, there were a couple of people who got behind the Belgian Ardennes
version of the Scottish 80 Shilling. So there you go: nothing ventured, nothing
gained.